The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 07 eBook

A LETTER

TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN,

CONCERNING THE WEAVERS.

WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1729.

NOTE.

The archbishop to whom Swift wrote
was Dr. William King, for many years his friend.
King was a fine patriot and had stood out strongly
against the imposition of Wood’s Halfpence.
In this letter, so characteristic of Swift’s
attitude towards the condition of Ireland, he
aims at a practical and immediate relief. The
causes for this condition discussed so ably by
Molesworth, Prior and Dobbs in their various
treatises are too academic for him. His “Proposal
for the Universal Use of Irish Manufacture”
well illustrates the kind of practical reform
Swift insisted on. Yet the insistence was more
because of the spirit of independence such a course
demanded. To Swift there was no hope for
Ireland without a radical change in the spirit
of its people. The change meant the assertion
of manliness, independence, and strength of character.
How to attain these, and how to make the people
aware of their power, were always Swift’s
aims. All his tracts are assertions of and dilations
on these themes. If the people were but
to insist on wearing their own manufactures,
since they were prohibited from exporting them, they
would keep their money in the kingdom. Likewise,
if they were to deny themselves the indulgence
in luxuries, they would not have to send out
their money to the countries from which these luxuries
were obtained. There were methods ready at
hand, but the practice in them would result in
the cultivation of that respect for themselves
without which a nation is worse than a pauper and lower
than a slave.

* * * *
*

The text of this edition
is based on the original manuscript, and
collated with that of
Scott’s second edition of Swift’s collected
works.

[T. S.]

A LETTER TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN, CONCERNING THE WEAVERS.

MY LORD,

The corporation of weavers in the woollen manufacture,
who have so often attended your Grace, and called
upon me with their schemes and proposals were with
me on Thursday last, when he who spoke for the rest
and in the name of his absent brethren, said, “It
was the opinion of the whole body, that if somewhat
were written at this time by an able hand to persuade
the people of the Kingdom to wear their own woollen
manufactures, it might be of good use to the Nation
in general, and preserve many hundreds of their trade
from starving.” To which I answered, “That
it was hard for any man of common spirit to turn his
thoughts to such speculations, without discovering
a resentment which people are too delicate to bear.”
For, I will not deny to your Grace, that I cannot
reflect on the singular condition of this Country,
different from all others upon the face of the Earth,